Why Am I Here?

I have occasionally asked myself this very question over the past few weeks. Mostly, I need to ask myself this because my entire year here is about perspective. In what ways can medicine improve and how can other disciplines inform me to be part of that change? It is easy to get lost in the non-medical grind (ambling around a new city or studying for tests that seem to have little application to a patient’s gouty feet), but the classes and extracurricular activities here do relate back to medicine quite well. It’s just up to me to find those connections and run with them. So, for the fall semester, these are the core classes filling up my weekdays…

• MLD 101: Strategy, Structure, and Leadership. Easily one of my favorite courses, every Tuesday morning I enjoy a jambalaya of leadership development. The class is almost 100% case-based, with very little true lecture to get in the way of the practical application of topics. One day we practiced negotiating a deal to buy property from a national coffee chain threatening to block the ocean view of our “homely” Bed and Breakfast, and then this week we’re organizing T-shirt drives for the homeless.
• DPI 201: The Responsibilities of Public Action. An introduction to political philosophy, this course gives me the opportunity to reflect on how government and health care intermingle, and what the ethical implications of this relationship are. Most rewarding will be the writing I get to do throughout the course. I will be blogging here about the rights of government via paternalism in health care, whether or not health care is a “right,” and personal responsibility in patient care. Awesomely, our professor wants us to write our papers in the format of blog posts (can we say fate?), and the class will actually set up its own blog in the process. I will post all my arguments here (the first will be on the New York soda ban in a few weeks).
• API 201: Quantitative Analysis and Empirical Methods. Intro to statistics. If I didn’t love sensitivity and specificity as a second year med student, it’s time to start. This class will greatly enhance my ability to assess the medical literature and design research projects. Other than that, it’s just more math…
• API 101: Markets and Market Failure. This is a fancy-shmancy course title that really means I’m taking Econ 101… again. Given that I almost failed this class in college, I am here for redemption. As a second semester freshman in college, I showed up to the first class and the last class, and then took the final for 100% of my grade (results = poor). Mom and Dad, I am happy to report I have only missed ONE Economics class since the start of school, and that’s because I was at a conference in Chicago (finally a legitimate excuse). My only defense of my actions in college was that I thought the 9 o’clock start time infringed on my rights as an 18 year old. It did.
• SUP 500: Introduction to Health Policy. Fantastic course so far, taught by two health policy experts with a lot of DC clout. I’ll write three memos this year, and I’ll post them all. More to come on this course as it progresses. This is obviously the most applicable to my medical training.
• The Center of Public Leadership. With the Dubin Fellowship, every Wednesday night we sit amongst the other scholars to work on leadership development and personal growth. So far our experience has been unreal, and it has confirmed my decision to come to Kennedy. We’ve had public speaking workshops, speeches by eminent leaders in different fields, and of course, bacon-wrapped scallops, lobster, and corn-on-the-cob at David Gergen’s house on the Cape. This week I will be leading a medical ethics case conference for the Dubins, as each of us has an opportunity throughout the year to learn from each person’s life and area of interest (the case I will present actually was posted earlier on this blog - Ethics Committee). We also meditate once a month.

It has been a whirlwind tour so far, and additional extracurriculars will keep me busy. I look forward also to working as a member of the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery (through the American College of Surgeons) for my thesis work (more to come on that as well). I can tell already that the year will go by waaay too quickly.